Does anyone have a tried and tested recipe for this dish, i've looked up several and there seems to be conflicting ideas on cooking the beef before wrapping it in pastry and also some use only the mushroom stuffing and others also use pate. Any suggestions would be good.
I have never made one myself Jude. I think using pate or duxelle of mushroom is I think just a matter of personal choice - depending on which you and your family/guests prefer. I found this for you on the internet:
i make one to feed 12 and also individual ones. I brown a fillet of beef in a pan until it is sealed. I then use a duxelle of mushrooms and cook them down until soft. I roll out a sheet of puff pastry and spread pate on it, then i spread the mushrooms on top. place the fillet and wrap the pastry around it. Egg wash it and then cook until the pastry is golden. Its a Delia recipe and it never fails!!!
I prefer it with only pate, but that's just a personal thing.
I think cooking fillet first depends on how well you want the beef cooked. Obviously, there's a smaller window of cooking time for the pastry, so, if, for some reason, you want the beef to be well done, you'll need to cook it some first.